Pass through the ashes of time, recreate the memories between you and me

CCDC’s As If to Nothingopens OzAsia Festival

Pass through the ashes of time,

recreate the memories between you and me

City Contemporary Dance Company (CCDC) is excited to perform at OzAsia Festival for the first time, presenting the acclaimed production of As If To Nothing created by internationally renowned Tibetan choreographer Sang Jijia. As If To Nothing is the opening programme of the Festival, to be staged from 22 to 24 September 2016 at Dunstan Playhouse, Adelaide Festival Centre.

OzAsia Festival is Australia’s premier international arts festival focusing on Asia annually. It features the finest theatre, dance, music, film, talks and visual arts that Asia has to offer. Sang Jijia, Resident Choreographer of CCDC, is known for combining extremely intense physical movement and unique rhythm to create psychological tension and anisotropy. He has choreographed and performed for numerous well-known dance companies in Europe and Asia at their invitation. As If To Nothing won two 2010 Hong Kong Dance Awards (“Outstanding Dance Production” and “Outstanding Achievement in Choreography”), and has toured to Beijing, Guangzhou, Singapore, Niigata (Japan) and Florence with great success.

As If To Nothing examines the passage of time in the stream of memories. Enter the maze of déjà vu, trapped by our own memories. In every delicate moment, memories seem so close and yet so far. It is slowly swallowed by time. Struggling between remembering and forgetting – scattered names, distorted faces, floating time, transforming scenes and familiar plots – what is left inside is emptiness. In this misplaced world, what is real? What is fake?

Featuring electronic music by Dickson Dee and video design by Adrian Yeung, As If To Nothing is an adrenaline-packed and interactive multimedia work. This tour-de-force is an extremely physical and emotional performance by the flagship contemporary dance company of Hong Kong. Look for memories destroyed by time.

The music of this production is commissioned by CCDC in 2009 with sponsorship from CASH Music Fund

CCDC is financially supported by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

CCDC reserves the right to substitute artists

About City Contemporary Dance Company（CCDC）

Under the leadership of Founder and Artistic Director Willy Tsao, City Contemporary Dance Company has inspired and elated audiences in Hong Kong and around the world with superb modern dance performances over the past 36 years. Founded in 1979, CCDC has presented over 200 original works to critical acclaim, including productions by leading choreographers and innovative collaborations with outstanding artists from other media.

CCDC is renowned for reflecting the vigour and creativity of Hong Kong’s vibrant, multifaceted contemporary culture and has earned invitations to the world’s foremost dance stages and festivals in over 30 major cities in America, Europe, Australia and Asia. The opening of CCDC Dance Centre in 2004 gives young artists, students and the community an exciting new opportunity to forge a bright, dynamic future for dance in Hong Kong. CCDC Dance Centre produces 40 outreach performances annually, offering highly popular dance courses which benefit over 40,000 students and audience.

About Sang Jijia

Acclaimed as “the most perfect dancer”, Sang Jijia was selected by the influential American choreographer William Forsythe to work with him at the Frankfurt Ballet for four years. At 23, Sang won the top prize in the men’s section of the 1996 Paris International Modern Dance Competition. He was hailed by the Guangdong province as “Star of the Century” in 1997. He was awarded the Asian Cultural Council Scholarship and American Dance Festival Scholarship in 1998 and 1999 respectively. He was a dancer of CCDC from 1999 to 2002. At 27, he joined the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative and studied choreography with William Forsythe in Germany. Sang returned to China in 2006, since then, has created a number of full-length works for CCDC, Beijing’s LDTX and the Guangdong Modern Dance Company. These works include Unspeakable (2007), Sticks (2007), As If To Nothing (2009), Standing Before Darkness (2010) and Layer Code (2013). In 2013, he was commissioned by the Norwegian dance company Carte Blanche to create Not Here, Not Ever and Pa|Ethos for Spellbound Contemporary Ballet in 2015, taking part in Fabbrica Europa Festival for the second time. Sang Jijia is currently Resident Choreographer of CCDC. His latest work Fragile Beauty premiered in Hong Kong in June 2016. It was restaged at the Beijing Dance Festival in July to great acclaim.